Do you believe in "signs"?

[puzzleannie]

I think God sends signs all the time, but most of the time we ignore them. I am thinking of the movie Bruce Almighty as an illustration, comic but true. I think God created nature and used nature to fulfill his plan through the Incarnation and everything leading up to it and its fulfillment, so we can expect natural signs. The problem as always is discernment. If we are in the habit of prayer, sacraments, Mass, scripture reading, penance, devotion etc. with the aim of knowing and doing God’s will at all phases of our life, this will come naturally, the signs will rather clear cut, although tiny, like the dove in OP. If we are continually combatting God’s will, insisting on our own will, it will be very likely we listen only to that which affirms our own decisions and ignore signs from God.

 

[Sr_Sally]

The people moving are relatives, correct? So go see the house, check out the neighborhood, talk to them about your thought process. Then perhaps all of you should go to Mass or Adoration together. I do think that God sends us signs, but I also think we need to conform all will to His.
And as other posters have said, I do think it is presumptuous to tell Him how you expect him to speak to you. And I also don’t think where we live (which house, which state) is all that important to doing the will of God.
If you’d like to move, you can afford to move, and the relatives would like to sell to you, then move.

 

[Mijoy2]

I hate to the one who lets the air out of the balloon but whenever I hear of a “sign” that someone experienced my mind always goes to the mathematical perspective.

In other words, with over 6 billion people on the earth if all were to ask for a sign, even the most obscure sign, many would experience thier respective sign.

For example if I were to pray to St Therese for an intercession and I received a rose the next day in what might appear an odd manner, I can’t help but wonder how many other people in the world received a rose in a rather odd manner.

Of course there are going to be what appear to be miraculous signs when there are many faithful God loving people hoping for such a sign. And of course, we are going to hear about them.

I feel like such a party poop.

 

[Conservative]

I’m not sure if the OP asked this question before I’d asked a similar one. I’ve asked God for many-a-favor but this year, for the first time (to my recollection) I definitively asked him - no, begged him for a sign. To the depths of my heart, it’s that important to me. I’ve had two reminders in mind, "Ask, and you shall receive." - and - ***“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God.” ***(I wasn’t trying to do the latter.)

A friend said that God does not give signs and promptly showed me a Biblical quote to back up the argument. But haven’t we also been told in the Bible what signs to look for that would point to the end times? So, while the end times aren’t so much on a personal level as global - apparently, God does give signs.

I’ve heard about St. Theresa and roses. I’ve experienced a fragrance from St. Padre Pio’s glove while no one else near me smelled it. And I’m no saint. What was St. Padre Pio at that time trying to say by God’s Grace to me? (Perhaps, more a grace than a sign.) And wasn’t it the Bishop or parish priest who told St. Bernadette to ask Our Lady for a sign - the sign being a rose bush blooming in winter - which it later did - unless the story has been mistold.

I’m not St. Bernadette or a bishop - maybe I have no right to get a sign or even ask for one. But just as sure as I’ve been told to trust in God and in His Mercy - to ask and I shall receive, to knock and it shall be opened to me - that if God so deems to do so - then I have to believe He will give signs, perhaps if only under special circumstances. I think we have to know what experiences are just wishful thinking - and which ones are really “signs”. And I agree that the Evil One will give us all sorts of “signposts” to confuse us. For that reason, we have to avoid jumping to conclusions.

Still fervently praying for a sign in answer to a particular prayer - and that I will recognize it -
Conservative-ly hopeful.

 

[St_Gabriel]

I don’t think of signs as something odd/unusual like something falling from the sky. When God sends me a sign, I usually don’t recognize it as one until looking back retrospect. They are little things that all add up usually to assist me with some major event down the road. The sign fits right into place like a jigsaw puzzle piece. It’s just like looking at a finished puzzle. After the event takes place, I’ll often say to Him, “Ahh. Now I get it. So that’s what you’ve wanted for me all this time. You are so good! I should just trust you a little more.”

I prefer to call them “God-incidences” rather than “signs”.

 

[Just_wondering]

I believe in signs. One year ago, I was at a pretty miserable point in my life. I left a job that used to be the best I ever had, and had become the worst I ever had. I moved to a new town, where my boyfriend at the time lived, and he promptly dumped me. I was working a job that not what I wanted to be doing long-term. If anyone needed a sign, I did.

I met a nice Catholic man - not in a romantic way. Just a very nice man, who helped people and got nothing back for himself. And he told me about how much he loved the Philippines, and showed me a bracelet of saints that his daughter gave him that she’d bought there.

Over the next two months, I had random people - friends, mostly - tell me something about the Philippines, and about Catholicism. I didn’t pay too much attention. Then I met a nice Filipino Catholic man - who told me he was married. I was bitterly disappointed, but we became friends. At this point, I mentioned to a friend that all the signs seemed to point to this man being significant, but that he was married. She asked me what the problem was, since he wasn’t living with his wife. I said that I wouldn’t date a man who wasn’t free to marry me.

A few weeks later, the very nice Catholic Filipino man announced that his annulment had been granted. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it, but his marriage had been over for a long time. He had just been waiting for his annulment.

Several months later, he asked me on a date. We are dating now, and I’m going to meet his priest next weekend, to talk about marriage preparation.

I say these are signs. Maybe others would interpret them differently. I just know that this man is nothing like who I thought I’d date, and I never considered marriage seriously before. I wouldn’t even date a religious man before, and here I am, excited that he asked me to meet his priest! I say the hand of God was involved in this.